Mule Halter

[John Thurston]

Thanks banker pawpaw

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

It's a shame there are hardly any decent photos of mules being used during the war or in that time period. Not many surviving examples either that I could find after years of looking. Very little to go on as far as researching them it seems.

Here's one that Garry Adelman's Civil War (Facebook) Page shared just a few days ago. If you download the high-resolution version available from the LOC at this link, maybe it will provide some detail relevant to the discussion of mule halters.

 

[EHParks]

Not to intentionally to divert the thread, but this brings up and interesting question to me.

What happened to those literally thousands of harness outfits and for that matter wagons after the war? Were they liquidated ala Bannerman? Repurposed for western settlement and/or farming?

And the adornments on the above halter look far from war time standard issue to me, maybe postwar GAR or UCV?

Great NPS video about the Robert Cravens House on Lookout Mountain. Cravens and family will be under literal siege during the battle and eventually forced to leave their home which is subsequently stripped by souvenir hunters and members of the press who tear off the siding and floors for tents and firewood. Cravens runs a foundry and ironworks before the war and loses all that as well. When the family comes back he decides to rebuild, buys a surplus lot of Union wagons, restores and resells them, building the new house now owned by the NPS in the video. Robert Cravens and the Cravens House

 

[shooter too]

Great NPS video about the Robert Cravens House on Lookout Mountain. Cravens and family will be under literal siege during the battle and eventually forced to leave their home which is subsequently stripped by souvenir hunters and members of the press who tear off the siding and floors for tents and firewood. Cravens runs a foundry and ironworks before the war and loses all that as well. When the family comes back he decides to rebuild, buys a surplus lot of Union wagons, restores and resells them, building the new house now owned by the NPS in the video. Robert Cravens and the Cravens House

I've been up there and around but I never knew that. Thank you.

History Wizards live among us and continue to expand our horizons.

 

[John Thurston]

Thanks for sending the photo of the Mule teams, gives me a better idea of the halter went over the ears and the way the mules were hooked up to pull wagons. I'm sure there was a lot of surplus after the war, and since horses were still being used, you could probably make a good buck repurposing military goods.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

More mules, with a closer view of their halters and harnesses, also courtesy of the LOC, via Garry Adelman's Civil War (FB) Page.

 

[Woods-walker]

Hello, my first time on this site. I have been collecting Civil War and Fur Trade Era items for about 30 year now. I have some things I am looking feedback on that I've acquired over the years. attached are some photos of what I believe is a Civil War period mule halter. All metal pieces are made of brass, with no iron used. Brass has a reddish tone to it, indicating a higher copper content. I was wondering if anyone thinks this could be a Southern Wagon or Artillery Mule halter? The brass loops for the reins show lots of use and heavy pulling wear that bent them pretty good. Any information on this would be appreciated. Item came from the Dalton Georgia area. I've seen some CW period horse halters with lots of brass decoration similar to this.

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Welcome from Soldiers Who Fought on Horseback Cavalry forum

 

[EHParks]

Here's a Google link that came up when I was looking for info on forage transportation, lots of mules and wagons: Image search page

 

[John Thurston]

That's a great photo, thanks for sending that.
I'll have to check out that link that was sent too.